Open Letters

This body of work speaks to the hope of finding a safe place to rest and mend deep wounds embedded deep within the body and mind after the experience of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Cazlynne Peffer presents viewers with the opportunity to encounter sculptural assemblages derived from personal entries from her diaries, wherein she discloses how the journey towards healing from sexual trauma has unfolded. These are the artist’s Open Letters, through which the knotted bands of pantyhose becomes a material evocation of written text and a visual interpretation of the pages on which she discloses the difficulties experienced in moving past her encounter of rape. In Peffer’s handling and treatment of hosiery, the account of violation is juxtaposed against wire mattresses and discarded natural materials such as khakibos and cut branches. The artist gives voice to instances of SGBV that do not fit within the common association of violence and brutality. She speaks to the often-hidden psychological consequences of trauma within the context of black and brown feminine experiences of pervasive rape in South Africa.

Featuring: Cazlynne Peffer